The present invention relates to a presenting/dispensing system for interconnected, cut-separable orthodontic/medical devices which may incorporate the same in the form of a spooled or serpentine-folded chain containing plural seriatim-joined devices. More particularly, it relates to such a system which is designed specifically for handling to-be-dispensed devices which carry, as indexed groupings of selected numbers of units, intra-oral orthodontic elastomeric tools, such as ligators, separators and others--a setting in which the invention has been found to offer particular utility. Accordingly, a preferred embodiment of the invention is described in conjunction with dispensing such things.
Effective elastomeric orthodontic tools of the type generally mentioned above have been available for years, and various techniques, apparatuses and arrangements have been proposed for enabling dispensing of the same. For example, prior art patents dealing with the latter include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,903,601 to Anderson et al., 4,038,753 to Klein, 4,330,271 to Anderson, and 5,016,766 to Klein et al.
In the dispensing and handling schemes proposed in the past, there are several common characteristics which, while useful and appropriate in many instances, are not so useful and appropriate in others. For example, ligators, such as O-ring ligators, or separators have been presented in the past (1) as completely free units which are plucked from a container holding the same, (2) as free (non-co-joined) individuals contained on a dispensing wand or the like, (3) in elongate chains of individual, separable units, and (4) in relatively large arrays of units joined integrally with an elongate dispensing element. Examples of the latter are found in the '753 and '271 patents mentioned above.
Generally speaking, practitioners have found useful a handling and dispensing arrangement in which an elongate dispensing body carries integrally joined, but cut-away- or break-away-separable, orthodontic tools.
Considering how this kind of structure has been manufactured in the past, and can be manufactured, in order to obtain dispensable tools which are easily handled and best suited for their intended purposes, manufacturing procedures have generally divided into two generic categories including molding, and stamping (or cutting) from previously formed sheet elastomeric material. Among the advantages of devices produced by a stamping procedure is that long chains of devices can be produced, and these chains are easily and very desirably held for dispensing in a spooled condition, a serpentine stacked condition, and the like. However, stamped units do not offer the opportunity to create orthodontic tools that vary in cross-sectional dimension and that have smoothly rounded outside surfaces at all desired locations. Further, stamp cutting according to prior art procedures does not, in all instances, offer the most desirable degree of control over final unit dimensions.
Molding, inter alia, offers the opportunity to overcome the disadvantages just mentioned in stamping, but does not easily lead to the molded creation of long easily-dispensable chains of devices.
A hybrid approach to the manufacturing of devices of the type discussed specifically herein blends the advantages of molding with the "chaining" advantage of stamping, via the process of pre-molding pre-selected unit lengths of devices, and then suitably joining these, in an end-to-end (endo) fashion, to create spoolable (serpentine stackable, etc.) chains of any desired length.
Those familiar with the practice of orthodontics will recognize that, for different specific procedures, one typically requires for use a specific group number of devices--usually no more and no less. For example, unit groupings containing two, four or six units of specific character are typical. It is with this in mind that we think of our system as one which is designed in a manner that uniquely enables the handling and dispensing of devices which are presented in a spool as indexed groupings of selected numbers of units, separable as a grouping which contains essentially precisely the exact number of tools or devices which the practitioner needs for a particular procedure. As will become apparent, and while we have mentioned different common grouping numbers, we illustrate herein a system dispensing, from a chain, indexed groupings containing six working units, or tools.
Interweaving today with the issue of convenient handling and dispensing is the issue of preventing patient cross-contamination resulting from at-risk exposure of intra-oral tools prior to placement for intra-oral use.
Dispensing and handling systems/devices of the type in the past characterized by a long dispensing finger, or rod, containing multiple detachable tools, such as ligators, often include a far greater number of tools than an orthodontist actually requires during a particular patient-specific treatment procedure (note the indexed-grouping-advantage discussion above). Accordingly, where, even in a carefully controlled hygienic setting that enables patient-specific dispensing of one or two only of such tools in an exposed environment, there is substantial waste which results when only a few tools are removed for use, and the remainder are tossed out in keeping with cross-contamination hygiene practice.
Giving an illustration relating to the use of ligators, for example, experiences indicate (as mentioned earlier) that there are many procedures (like less-than-full-arch procedures) in which only a very few ligators are required, a setting wherein it is desirable to be able to place, in an at-risk (for contamination) environment, a dispensing/handling device, which carries only a small number of available ligators, thus to minimize wasteful discarding of exposed but unused ligators. Multiple devices each containing small numbers of ligators can always be brought into play where greater numbers of ligators are required for a given procedure, still without leading to excessive waste.
Cross-referenced application Ser. No. 08/007,374 provides just such a unique hand-holdable, tool-dispensing device for medical tools, such as orthodontic O-ring ligators or other devices, which takes this latter consideration into account in a very practical, simple, economical and satisfactory manner.
With respect to storing and dispensing such devices, there is a need for a system that can be used to accomplish such functions without bringing into a contamination environment an unwanted number of such devices.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a unique system for dispensing such devices in a manner that safeguards against bringing into a contamination setting a greater amount of such devices than is needed for the particular job at hand.
A further object is to provide such a system that presents and dispenses such devices, from a long chain of the same, in a manner (indexed groupings of selected numbers of units) that minimizes wasteful discarding of exposed but unused ligators.
According to the system of the present invention, such an elongate chain of devices may be stored conveniently either as a spool, or as a folded serpentine "stack", within the interior of a contamination-barrier container for enabling device-by-device (group-by-group) withdrawal through presenting/dispensing aperture substructure formed therein to allow for presenting such devices and dispensing a desired grouped number of the same. The chain which we illustrate herein may be made either in accordance with the conventional stamp-cutting procedure mentioned earlier, or by the "hybrid" procedure involving molding and endo joining of shorter lengths of groupings of devices.
The system of the present invention also includes check structure associated with the presenting/dispensing aperture substructure, which check structure includes a swingable paddle, or flap, that acts with what can be thought of as "toggle-like" pinching action against an expanse of the broad face of an anvil to lock the exposed end of a chain against slipping unwantedly back into the dispensing container.
These and other objects and advantages that are attained by the invention will become more fully apparent as the description which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.